100,000 LEDs light up a Japanese river

A few weeks ago at the Tokyo Hotaru festival in Japan, 100,000 floating LEDs were released into the Sumida river. The Hotaru (meaning fireflies) festival, celebrates the Japanese tradition of watching fireflies float along the watercourse.

The LEDs were said to give a ‘sapphire radiance’ against the night sky. Here are eight gorgeous photographs of the festival showing the colours and the vibrance of the spectacular event.

The LEDs, supplied by Panasonic, were designed to illuminate when they came in contact with water. For those concerned, don’t worry, they were all collected with large nets shortly after the event.